Budget 09

WELL, LOOK WHO’S LIVEBLOGGING UPDATE:

Seriously, this is one of the more eclectic witness lists ITQ has seen in a while – not that that’s a bad thing; I, for one, am oddly reassured by the knowledge  that we have a Maritime Law Secretariat.

That is, provided that nobody objects to the following motion when it comes up later today, which they wouldn’t, I’m sure, since it would make Jim Flaherty very unhappy:

Okay, so it looks like you may have to wait a little bit longer to get your budget back from the Senate – probably closer to the end of the month than this Friday – but the good news is that it will be totally ready for Royal Assent by April 1st, and that’s what counts, right? Besides, as David Akin points out here, you still have to get the estimates through the House before you can start spending the principal, and that won’t happen until June – which, as he points out, is pretty much exactly how the timeline unfolds every year.

The full report doesn’t seem to be up  yet, but here’s the executive summary.

“It’s tough to trust this government on the numbers.”

Just about every industry in Canada is getting some kind of handout

Infrastructure spending will account for nearly a third of all stimulus spending

Big spending, but a cloudy future still looms